How to Eat Vegan When You’re Allergic to Nuts

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When you decide to eat a plant-based diet, you choose to eliminate certain foods from your meals, including meat, dairy, eggs, and honey. You learn how to make substitutions that are healthy, delicious, and animal ingredient-free. You may, however, have noticed that nuts are a common ingredient in these vegan foods, especially cashews. There are nut-loaves, nut sauces, nut cheese, nut milks, nut ice cream – so what happens if you can’t eat nuts? Having another food restriction added to your day can be a challenge but it’s one you can easily handle. Here’s how to stay satisfied when you’re vegan and nut-free.

1. No Nuts!

Sometimes, it may seem like every vegan dish is made out of cashews. They certainly are used a lot in plant-based cooking to substitute for animal products. If you can’t eat nuts, it can be downright frustrating. Nuts are among the foods most commonly associated with allergic reactions and food intolerances. For some people, just being exposed to nuts can mean serious and even life-threatening reactions. Other people may avoid nuts for other reasons such as trouble digesting them.

Peanuts are not actually tree nuts but legumes. However, some people with tree nut allergies also have severe peanut allergies or avoid peanuts because they may be cross-contaminated with other nuts during processing.

What about coconut? That’s also become a common substitution. Coconut is classified as a fruit and is not technically a nut. The Food and Drug Administration recognizes coconut as a tree nut even though most people allergic to tree nuts can safely eat coconut. You need to check with your personal medical provider to determine what is right and safe for you.

2. Proceed With Caution

Eating nut-free means you not only avoid obvious foods with nuts but you have to be careful with foods that may contain hidden nuts including blended oils, nut butters and spreads, pesto, preserves, baked goods, chocolates, candies, granolas, and breakfast cereals.

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For a vegan, it also means also being careful about non-dairy products including milks, yogurts, ice creams and cheeses, veggie burgers and sausages, and pasta sauces, just to name a few foods. Make sure to read labels, and if you’re not sure about a food, skip it.

5. Nut-Free Milk

When you stop eating dairy, it seems like you start eating a whole lot of nuts. Many delicious vegan milksare made with cashews, almonds, and other nuts. Coconut is also a popular substitute for dairy but as we mentioned, coconut may also be off the menu for a nut-free person. Dairy-free milks can be made out of nut-free foods such as seeds, oats, and rice.

6. Nut-Free Cheese

Just like milk, many dairy-free cheeses are made with nuts. However, similarly to milk, we can make delicious cheeses and cheese sauces without nuts. There are vegan cheeses you can buy that are made with tapioca. Check out Vegan Cheese is Better Than Ever: Try These 11 Brands to see which are right for you. If you’re making your own cheese and cheese sauce at home, you have options that don’t include nuts. First, there’s the old standby of nutritional yeast. It adds a cheesy flavor without soy or nuts. Try nutritional yeast, or “nooch” as it’s often called, in this Vegan Hot Corn Dip, this Gruyere Cheese, and this Vegan Cheesy Mac n’ Yeast.

This beautiful Paprika Cheese Without Nuts or Soy slices and grates just like cheese should. Made with potatoes, red peppers, oats, and nutritional yeast, this is perfect for a cheese sauce. Just melt it into a béchamel sauce made with nut-free, soy-free, and dairy-free milk. You can also use white beans to make a cheese sauce. Simply blend Cannellini or Northern beans with nutritional yeast and seeds for a cheesy nut-free sauce.

8. Nut-Free Desserts

Desserts without nuts? Yes, it’s totally possible. If you want whipped cream, try using aquafaba, the liquid in canned chickpeas. It actually works as a vegan egg white replacer. Making aquafaba whipped cream is easy. All you have to do is mix the brine from a couple of cans of chickpeas with one-quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar. Add vanilla, sugar, and any other flavors you want and whisk the mixture, by hand or by electric mixer, until it gets fluffy and has a consistency like whipped cream. This could easily take over 15 minutes so electric might be the way to go. It’s very similar to making Vegan Meringue but with the added cream of tartar.

There are all types of nut-free desserts you can make that usually use nuts. Everyone loves the firm, dense, yet somehow fluffy texture you get in a New York style cheesecake. This Cinnamon Coconut New York Style Cheesecake is nut-free, oil-free, tofu-free, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and raw. Did you know you could make brownies with quinoa? You can – try these One Bowl Quinoa and Date Sugar Brownies. This double chocolate No-Bake Brownie Batter is incredibly indulgent with that deep, dark, decadent taste you expect to get when you bite into a brownie. It’s also nut-free! This Vanilla Cappuccino Protein Pudding is such a delicious way to start the day. It’s like having dessert for breakfast and it is vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free.

Once you know what ingredients to avoid and what foods can replace them, it’s easy to be both vegan and nut-free. There is simply no end to the creativity and ingenuity of plant-based cooks and chefs.